58 G 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 14, 1911. 
Surf Casting. 
jersey City, N. J., Oct. 2.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Under the head of “Surf Casting 
Figures” in your issue of Sept. 9, a subject very 
interesting to an earnest section of your read¬ 
ers is treated. The merits of the 254-ounce, 
3- ounce and 4-ounce lead have afforded food 
for discussion along the New Jersey coast for 
years, and the consensus of opinion is reflected 
in the sales of the leading specialist of the 
coast in surf tackle. His statement is that he 
sells 2400 4-ounce leads and 600 3-ounce and 
not more than two or three dozen 2-ounce 
leads in a season. He does not carry 254-ounce 
leads. The above figures apply exclusively to 
the pyramid sinker used on our sandy beaches. 
With your permission I would deem it a favor 
to be allowed to state why the Asbury Park 
Fishing Club, a surf angling organization with 
a membership of 300, has apparently disre¬ 
garded recognized standards in casting tourna¬ 
ments, and taken position under a standard of 
its own. 
First, be it understood that no disrespect for 
the 254-ounce standard was intended when the 
4- ounce lead became recognized in the Asbury 
Park tournaments. When the first tour¬ 
nament of the club was arranged, the reign of 
the 4-ounce lead had been so long established 
and enjoyed that it simply took its position as 
the club’s standard in a naturally royal manner. 
The use of this weight along the New Jersey 
coast is dictated by the prevailing conditions. 
When a fish is hung it becomes the angler’s 
duty to remove the hook with the least pos¬ 
sible suffering to the quarry. A broken line or 
rig in the critical period of beaching the fish 
means that he escapes with a hook in his jaws, 
possibly to drag him to a lingering death. He 
must be worked carefully in and out on suc¬ 
cessive waves, a few feet gained on each, until 
he lies stranded at the feet of the angler, whose 
good forefinger inserted in his gills then plays 
the part of a gaff. Not infrequently those gills 
belong to a 40, 50 or 6o-pounder, so that the 
line must be heavy enough to depend upon 
against a big fellow. It must not be forgotten 
that the line is cast again and again into the 
seething sand blast at the bottom of the sea, 
and that the lower ten or twenty feet of it, 
the very portion upon which comes the great¬ 
est strain of beaching the fish, is continually 
being cut and torn by the sharp particles of 
sand with which it comes in contact. Experi¬ 
ence, therefore, has shown the 21-thread special 
to be the most reliable line, although the 12 
and 9 threads find favor with some who do 
not object and do not forget to break off 15 
or 20 feet of sanded line each day. 
The fishing along the New Jersey coast and 
that part of Long Island with which I am fa¬ 
miliar is principally done inside of the compara¬ 
tively short bars which lie from 200 to 400 
feet off shore. Incoming seas breaking over 
these bars pile up water on the beach. This 
high level of water, seeking the lower level 
of the outer sea, rushes parallel to the beach, 
one way or the other inside of the bar in search 
of a cut through which to escape. Is it rea¬ 
sonable to expect 254 ounces of lead to hold 
half of a shedder crab and a line as heavy as 
a 15-thread regular or 21 special (about the 
same in calibre), and prevent it from swinging 
on the arc of a circle in the channel currents 
just described until caught in the breakers and 
washed high and dry upon the beach? Fur¬ 
thermore, is it possible that 254 ounces will 
carry half a shedder crab over the breakers in 
such winds as the angler meets in September 
and October when in search of the striped bass 
and the channel bass? Thus the necessity for 
4 ounces of lead becomes apparent. The caliber 
of line and the size of bait demand it. 
The next point in the symphony of tackle is 
the rod. That tool must harmonize with lead 
and line and bait. Experience dictates a heavy 
tip, just as the tuna fishermen have found a 
heavy tip necessary; in fact, the two are about 
the same. In butts individual tastes vary 
widely. But in maintaining himself with dig¬ 
nity in an argument with a six or eight-foot 
shark or a hundred-pound sting ray in the wild 
seas that often batter the beach, the angler 
never finds his rod out of proportion. So too, 
a battle with half a bushel of tangled rope and 
drift would result in the disgrace of a broken 
line should any link in the chain of tackle be 
unable to stand up; and it is considered that 
years of actual experience have justified the 
popular outfit recognized by the patient lovers 
of the surf. 
Not to detract in the slightest from the ad¬ 
miration due to Mr. Scott of the British Sea 
Anglers’ Society for his truly wonderful records 
in exhibition casting with the 254-ounce lead, 
reaching in one instance 336 feet, far beyond 
anything accomplished with the 3 or 4-ounce 
lead at the • Asbury Park tournaments, 
yet it is respectfully submitted that since the 
combination of rod, line and lead developed 
by years of consistent and sportsmanlike study 
and experience by the Asbury Park Club and 
other capable surf fishermen is necessary under 
the conditions which confront the angler, so 
should they (or in other words, the 4-ounce 
lead) have a recognized place in the tourna¬ 
ments. 
Essentially the Asbury Park tournaments are 
4-ounce lead tournaments. They are contests 
with the tools used in the actual sport. With¬ 
out the 4-ounce lead or a heavier one there 
would be little successful surf fishing between 
Sandy Hook and Cape May. Our British 
cousins go as far as 8 ounces and probably 
with good reason. Must our predilection for 
light and spectacular tackle interfere with facts? 
There is no question as to fish conservation 
in surf angling. Many have worked faithfully 
for years to get one striper and I point with 
pride to six weeks spent in getting two channel 
bass. Surf angling is unquestionably the least 
destructive method of fishing that can be de¬ 
vised. One never hears of slaughter. The 254 - 
ounce lead with line and rod proportionately 
light will serve for weakfish, kingfish and 
flounders in light summer seas, but back in 
the surf angler’s mind there always lurks the 
thought of a 40 or 50-pound bass. Records 
show that these fish visit our shores every sea¬ 
son. One must be ready every minute if one 
is to be ready at the critical moment. 
Surf angling is not a sport which can be 
brought down to the one-hand basis. It is a 
full-grown, red-blooded man’s game and com¬ 
mensurate tackle is justified. The longer the 
recognition of the 4-ounce lead in casting tour¬ 
naments is delayed the more difficult that rec¬ 
ognition will become if there is anything in 
the argument that comparisons would be im¬ 
possible. The British Sea Anglers’ Society 
apparently has 2)4, 4, 6 and 8-ounce classes. 
Certainly they do not compare one class with 
another. In single-handed bait-casting this 
country recognizes two classes. In fly casting 
several classes exist. It is a simple matter to 
extend the same privileges to surf casting. 
Comparisons in classes would naturally date 
from their establishment, but as matters stand 
to-day, a large and devoted body of anglers feel 
that the title of the class to which their devo¬ 
tion applies has been torn from them and used 
for exhibition purposes only. 
In closing this already too lengthy ebullition, 
may the question be asked whether the 30-foot 
lane restriction of the Asbury Park Fishing 
Club was taken into consideration in the state¬ 
ment in your article above referred to, that 
“the records do not show that appreciably 
better averages have been made with the 3 and 
4-ounce weights, which are employed by the 
Asbury Park Fishing Club in its annual con¬ 
tests” than with the 254-ounce lead? Dear Mr. 
Editor, with trembling pen I do assure you 
that this 30-foot lane is only an inch and a half 
wide when the lead gets out about 250 feet, 
and the way the diabolical thing dodges this 
way and that, when it sees the lead coming, 
tears great chunks off the averages. 
Switch Reel. 
[When the 254-ounce standard was estab¬ 
lished, there was comparatively little fishing 
done in the surf of Long Island and New Jer¬ 
sey; mainly it was confined to bays and other 
waters where the surf was not so much of a 
factor as the tide. No one, so far as we know, 
has ever set up the claim that a 254-ounce lead 
is heavy enough for the open surf. 
Let the 254 -ounce standard remain, but hold 
3 or 4-ounce contests. They can be arranged 
in classes if separate events are not desired. 
This would satisfy all interests, and boom the 
sport, which is worthy. 
If the other clubs agree to this, will not the 
Asbury Park Fishing Club make one conces¬ 
sion? Adopt the universal rule as to bounds, 
which is, a V-shaped court 30 feet wide at a 
point 100 feet from the casting point. 
The British Sea Anglers’ Society’s distance 
and accuracy event is worth copying, though it 
is often practiced here. The length of a cast 
is measured, and from the total is deducted the 
distance from the center line to the place 
where the weight falls. This is employed in 
254, 3, 4, 6 and 8-ounce events.-— Editor.] 
All the fish laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
